My daughter, Laura, and her husband, Steve, along with her son Jacob visited us from Georgia. Steve and Laura both enjoy fishing but due to the high cost of out-of-state fishing permits, we decided that an off-shore trip would be too expensive with the high possibility of sea-sickness bothering them.

Plan B was a trip to a local pond for some late afternoon bass and bream action.

Last update 6 August, 2008

Amateur

Radio

Fresh and Salt Water Fishing

BARGAIN BOX

I have acquired several new to almost new transceivers and other equipment from a silent key estate. This equipment includes an MFJ VersaTuner II - $70, a LDG Electronics DTS-6 antenna switch $95, aYaesu FT 847 Transceiver - $999, a Kenwood TM-V7A Transceiver - $350, an Icom IC706 MKIIG Transceiver - $699, a Yaesu FT-450 Transceiver $650, a Mirage B34G Amplifier - $95,  a Yaesu FT-8500 Transceiver, and some more assorted items. If you are interested in any of these contact me for information.

In addition to the ham radio items listed above, I also have acquired a large amount of networking equipment. This is mostly ATM type  100 speed equipment including FORE Systems racks, blades, etc. If you know of someone needing to set up an office system on a limited budget, this may be a great source for equipment.

Fresh Water

for a Change!

Laura is proud to show off her string of bream she caught from the pier while Steve and I were out running around in the boat trying to find the big ones.

Steve shows our string with the two nice bass he caught on a  beetle-spin along with some bream I managed to catch on my fly rod using a popping bug.

The weather has been very hot and dry lately. The lake was around a foot or so lower than usual. Bream have moved back onto the beds in this pond and in my pond as well.

I did not notice much surface bass activity and although I fished a Tiny Torpedo top-water lure quite a bit I never got a hit on it. As you can tell by the picture, Steve did much better with the underwater spinner lure. They will

Hit the skillet

Tonight!

The slaw and

Hushpuppies

Are almost

Ready... umm

AG5Z Good News / Bad News

The good news is that I finally received my SignaLink USB interface and got it installed. After a few operator malfunctions I managed to make contacts on CW, RTTY and SSTV with it. The SignaLink is quite easy to install and comes with a large selection of software. I do wish they had a single “do all” program that they support instead of using various vendor and public domain software packages that don’t all operate in similar fashions. There is one program included that comes close to offering what I would like but it is only a trial version and must be purchased after the trial period.

The bad news is that my Kenwood TS-2000 appears to have been damaged by a nearby lightening strike. That is what Kenwood says will cause the problem I am having with it.

I am attempting to contact Kenwood so I can send it in for repair. I have installed the FT-847 in the console for VHF/UHF but I will likely use my trusty old Drake TR-7 for most HF operations. I also have acquired a Drake T4-X and a R4-C that I will likely use some as well. I finally got the “antique” tube-type station operational in the third op position.